Fact 3: Host community benefits, i.e. the community that hosts a countywide landfill is entitled to many monetary advantages such as property taxes, sales taxes, local employment and free trash disposal, totaling between $750,000 and $1 million a year in benefits. Yet, at a time when six of Ulster County’s 20 towns have an average income level below the national poverty level, we choose to continue to make the Town of Waterloo in Seneca Meadows very wealthy. It’s not that we don’t have a place to put a landfill, Ulster County is 1,100 square miles of vastness with 17 200-acre parcels that initially qualify for landfill status. The reason we don’t have a landfill is not about logic it’s more about the “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY) syndrome and short-sightedness. The modern landfill is not your grandfather’s “garbage dump” it is a “state of the art industry regulated by the NYSDEC.”
Fact 4: Recently New York City was ordered to shut down the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. Hence, New York City is now sending its trash (6 million tons a year) to Seneca Meadows. Which means that Seneca Meadows could reach its capacity within the next 10 years. If Ulster County has to ship its trash by rail to some Midwestern state our $103 per ton tipping fee could easily rise to $200 a ton. The clock is ticking and time is running out for Ulster County. Let’s forget NIMBY and jawboning and make some serious decisions about the trash dilemma we are facing before it’s too late!
Fact 5: On the subject of flow control, the federal Supreme Court has twice voted to approve it both in concept and operation, and the county legislature by majority vote approved it. Most importantly, it is working very effectively in Ulster County.
Fact 6: On the subject of eminent domain, the law allows the purchasing of private land with just and fair compensation to its owners for the public benefit. If it were not for this law the public would not have the Thruway, most Hudson River bridges, tunnels and most airports. There is nothing evil about this law, it has served the property owners and the public well and should continue to do so.
No, Howard Baul, I have no intention of resigning my unanimously appointed position on the UCRRA, even though I am not paid and serve as a volunteer. I am committed to helping solve this problem for the taxpayers of Ulster County.
Charles Landi, Kingston
Mr. Hein’s re-election is perceived by Ms. Nolan as a win for her lobbying for a trail only. Although Terry Bernardo didn’t win the election she did garner 42% of the votes. That 42% should be sending a strong message to Mr. Hein, Ms, Nolan and their select few “trail only” supporters. Mr. Hein’s re-election does not represent the “bright future for our entire community” as Ms. Nolan writes.
In reality the citizens behind that 42% are indicating that there is more than a trail only at stake. These folks do support the creation of a trail but not at the expense of the Historic Ulster & Delaware Rails or future expansion of rail service. A new trail could parallel the rails for most of the U & D corridor. There are a few areas where terrain would require a deviation from the idea. That is quite normal when rails and trails share the resources available to them
Continuous rails with an adjacent trail provide more options along the U & D corridor than a trail only. The trail satisfies the needs of the hikers and bikers. An expanded rail service would also accommodate their needs by providing rides from or to the western terminus. A biker could ride the trail west and return by train or ride the train west and return by bike. One of the trail lobbyists has already mention that he used this service in a bike ride in Maryland. The same goes for a walker. In addition a train would service toddlers, seniors and the physically & emotionally disabled. A much broader spectrum of citizen & tourists would be serviced by the combined efforts of rails & a trail. Combined they would have a greater economic impact on Ulster County and the resident businesses.
Ms. Nolan, you need to look at the big picture. Is it better to be SELFLESS or SELFISH?
I think that in spite of misinformation and a huge budget, the incumbent, Mr. Hein won with a bare plurality. That speaks volumes about the situation in Ulster.
People are asking the railroad company to stop being so SELFISH. How can they ask to continue to occupy the U&D Corridor 24/7, 365 days a year for the entirety of the corridor, when they have not been able to bring it into full service in 25 plus years!?! Rail with trail??? A desperate dream with no engineering studies or reasonable financial estimates…time for Ulster County to wake up and leave the Rip Van Winkle railroad behind before their next nap.
re RRA: a reasoned and timely response from Mr Landi… and the siting of a landfill has big repercussions: the devaluing of many properties needs to be considered and included in the cost equation: if you take my property by eminent domain, I am still compensated. But not included in the costs are the lower values of neighboring property for which there is no compensation, and that may also lower the community income from property tax that funds services and schools. Beyond that it can disrupt lifelong plans of some people in that area.
What then would be the true costs of the landfill…
Perhaps, in anticipation of that need, several places ought to be acquired and held for the purpose of a future landfill and the details of a modern landfill and recycling center examined over some years to ameliorate the problems that intense waste management can bring.
When people say “not in my back yard” they are saying “This will cost me, personally, dearly… but the damage this does to me, my family, my neighborhood is ignored, no compensation of any kind, no “thanks”, nothing…”
Of course!
Who are the people who are really paying for that dump site and how are they compensated? Seek to compensate them, and a lot of the problem of placement will go away at the same time costs will go up and properly borne more equitably by all the people in the county.